S. African Escapees Leave Refuge

March 23, 1989|By Tom Masland, Chicago Tribune.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Four political detainees who escaped from a hospital Monday left their embassy refuge Wednesday, declaring they would continue to campaign for the release of all such prisoners.

The four walked out of the West German Embassy in Pretoria after receiving written government assurances that they would not be rearrested and that no restrictions would be placed on them, they told reporters in Johannesburg.

``As far as we are concerned, there is no basis for releasing some and keeping others,`` said Ephraim Nkoe, 28, spokesman for the four. ``Only an immediate and total release will be acceptable.``

The four men-Nkoe, Job Sithole, Mpho Lekgoro and Clive Radebe-said they had won a promise from Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok to send a top police officer to Durban Wednesday to review the case of Sandile Thusi, a hunger striker who they said was near death. The release of Thusi, one of about 50 detainees still fasting, had been one of their original demands.

The four said they had walked out of the hospital in their pajamas and taken a bus to Pretoria because they were convinced Vlok had slowed the pace of prisoner releases. Vlok last month promised to review the cases of all detainees and to release a substantial number of them as part of an agreement with attorneys representing about 300 hunger strikers.

The government says it has freed 580 detainees since mid-February, leaving an estimated 300 people in detention-the lowest number since a state of emergency permitting indefinite detention without trial was imposed in June, 1986. The Human Rights Commission demanded Wednesday that Vlok release the names of all freed detainees; but it did not dispute the figure, saying its lower figure was out of date.

Nkoe and the other three said Wednesday they doubted a statement from Vlok`s office that their release orders had already been signed when they fled Hillbrow Hospital. So did Mohammed Valli Moosa, a former detainee who told the journalists that only hunger strikes and escapes had prompted the government to begin the recent releases.

Valli Moosa was one of three detainees who made a similar escape in September and took refuge in the U.S. Consulate for 37 days before receiving an amnesty pledge. He said more than 500 former detainees had been served with restriction orders that amount to a new form of detention.

Under the emergency regulations, Vlok has sweeping power to prevent any South African from engaging in politics or even leaving home.

The four newly freed detainees said members of their organization, the South African Youth Congress, had been kidnaped and tortured without any charges being brought against them.

``The arbitrary power given to the minister under the state of emergency has been abused countless times and must come to an end,`` they said in a statement.